Dreadhorn Peaks

Dreadhorn Peaks

Dreadhorn Peaks stand in the northwest of Oblivion Vale. The range is steep, cold, and hard to cross. Pass roads are narrow and watched from stone towers. Since the Drying, there are no rivers or lakes on the slopes. The Holdfast survives on deep aquifer taps, stone cistern vaults, and keyed valves that ration every draw. Outsiders may trade and travel, but only under strict tally, search, and gate fee.

Land and Weather

Black stone faces and long snowfields shape the ridgelines. Wind funnels through pass mouths and can turn to blizzard within hours. Trees are low and sparse, mostly clinging to sheltered ledges. Old streambeds are dry cuts in the soil, used as hidden tracks by raiders and smugglers. Rockfalls are common after freeze-thaw weeks. Avalanches drop onto roads where snow packs sit on smooth slopes. Most safe travel follows carved road shelves with chain rails and avalanche sheds.

Holds, Gate-Cities, and Authority

Dwarves live in sealed holds cut into stable rock. Each hold has layered gates, choke halls, and vent shafts that can be closed by iron shutters. Gate-cities sit at pass mouths behind thick walls and iron doors. These towns handle trade, escorts, and inspections for the high roads. Every gate-city has a tally hall, a quarantine yard, and a sealed water room guarded by key-bearers. The Holdfast is governed by hold-thanes, gate masters, and sworn clerks who control records, keys, and route permissions. The Holdfast keeps deep suspicion toward surface politics, and it limits outside influence through contract rules and witness demands. Disputes are settled in closed hearings with a written ruling and a stamped seal. Tunnel wardens enforce the ruling in mines and at gates.

Water Doctrine and Daily Survival

Water is the main measure of power in the peaks. Deep taps feed cistern vaults through stone channels with keyed valves. Valve keys are issued by oath and tracked like weapons. Water maps are guarded as state secrets and kept in locked vault rooms. They enforce water inheritance through hold law, not family claims, so a household cannot pass water rights without state record. Allocation is enforced by patrol checks and ledger audits. Theft is treated as sabotage, not need. In hard weeks, rations tighten first for outsiders, then for low-rank crews, then for anyone under suspicion. Many homes keep dry stores of grain and salt, but almost no one keeps private water. Unsealed casks are seized, and the owner is questioned.

Mines, Salt, and Trade

The Holdfast mines iron, silver, black stone, and deep salt. Iron and black stone feed forges that make tools, lock parts, and armor goods. Silver is traded for grain, timber, and medicine that cannot be grown on the slopes. Deep salt is guarded at the seam and at the gate, because it preserves food and slows rot in storage. Mines run deep and require constant bracing, vent work, and waste haul lines. Since open water is gone, mine wash work is limited and controlled. Caravans move on schedules set by gate masters, and late crews can lose rations while they wait for inspection.

Quarantine Doctrine

Quarantine is absolute in the peaks. A single report of fever can seal a tunnel for months. Gate-cities hold arriving crews in outer yards until inspection is complete. Goods are stripped, smoked, and re-casked if they come from risky routes. Animals are penned and watched for sores, cough, and strange behavior. Plague-touched individuals are never allowed near water sites, even if they carry valid papers. The Holdfast treats the Plaguelands as a surface madness zone that must not enter the deep, so any contact report triggers extra closure time. If plague signs appear, the Holdfast closes the inner gate and posts seal marks on the road stones. Families can be trapped inside a hold zone until a review is done. This policy keeps deep holds alive, but it turns small scares into long shortages.

Monsters and Why They Matter

The peaks have natural killers, but they also have things that do not belong in clean stone. Monsters shape law, work schedules, and route planning. Many tower signals are used as much for creature warnings as for war.

Purple Worm

Purple worms are treated as tunnel disasters. They follow vibration from drills, hammer work, and wagon wheels. A worm can collapse a mine grid and crack sealed water lines, causing slow deaths by thirst. The Holdfast marks worm ground on restricted maps and limits heavy hauling through those cuts. Some crews try to lure worms away, but this often drives them toward a different hold’s tap lines.

Zombie

Zombies rise where bodies were left without rites, often in collapsed camps and sealed work tunnels. They move in stiff packs and do not stop for wounds. In the peaks they spread sickness through contact, so even a small outbreak can trigger a closure. Burn crews use salt lines and torch work to clear them, then wall off the chamber that produced them. Gate law bans corpse hauling through pass roads without Death marks.

Skeleton

Skeletons are common in old fort stairs, mine dead ends, and abandoned shrines on the high road. They follow the last command burned into them and will guard doors for centuries. Some appear after grave theft, and some rise from crews sealed in during past quarantines. The Holdfast treats them as a security threat because they protect keys, routes, and sealed rooms from the living. Clearing them is slow work because traps and tight corridors are common.

Eye-Raft

Eye-Rafts hover through service corridors, cistern stairs, and air shafts. They can see through cracks and thin doors, which makes hidden rooms unsafe. Eye-Rafts communicate with Seer-Mass and Deep Listeners to draw them to kill those who linger. Smugglers sometimes use their movement as a guide to learn guard lines. Gate patrols hunt them with open flame and salt spray, because they fear them as living spies. A sighting near a key room can lock down a whole gate block.

Seer-Mass

Seer-Masses drift through the mountains. They force panic visions of hunger and loss, which breaks discipline in crowded yards. When one is active, fights start faster and mistakes rise. The Holdfast responds by limiting crowd size, moving tallies behind guarded doors, and rotating clerks to reduce strain. Some dwarves believe Seer-Masses feed on fear created by scarcity itself.

Deep Listener

Deep Listeners glide through tunnels and old foundations as smooth stone spheres cut with ear slits. They hear heartbeats through rock and mark hiding rooms with exact accuracy. They then draw other predators toward those points, so refuge cells stop working. They are feared by smugglers, runaways, and even patrol scouts. Tunnel wardens teach silence discipline and reduce vibration work when Deep Listeners are reported near a route.

Glabrezu

Glabrezus appear in famine years at gate-cities and trade courts. They offer short solutions like cleared quarantine marks, “found” caches, or a rival’s ruin. They thrive on conflict over the same crate and the same water token. The Holdfast executes proven collaborators and burns corrupted records, but the damage often lasts. Their presence is one reason gate masters distrust outside clerks and insist on dwarf witnesses for key tallies.

Marilith

Mariliths enter the peaks when infernal forces secure a pass fort or a deep vault breach. They train demon raiders into disciplined units and besiege dwarven holds. They demand tribute in salt, metal, and water. The Holdfast responds with gate seals, tower signals, and long closures rather than open pursuit.

Balor

A balor is treated as a regional disaster. It appears when a major seal fails or if the dwarves dig too deep. It burns storehouses, cracks gates, and forces holds to abandon tunnels to survive. After a balor event, the Holdfast expands seal work, tightens license rules, and increases executions for anyone tied to the breach. Whole road sections may stay closed for years because the stone remains unsafe.

Current Pressure in 3A 3192

The Holdfast remains strong, but it is under strain. Grain and timber convoys are less reliable, and every delay forces ration cuts. Mine output rises to pay for imports, which increases worm risk and tunnel fatigue. Quarantine closures are more frequent, which tightens trade and pushes more smuggling through dry cuts. The Holdfast answers with tighter counts, harsher penalties, and more sealed work zones. In the peaks, survival is measured in closed gates, clean ledgers, and water that does not leave a vault without a mark.